About Me

Wife to a wonderful husband and mom to a beautiful daughter.
Our daughter is 14 years old, in 8th grade, and has been homeschooled from the start.
I write reviews, host giveaways, and enjoy homeschool life!

Homeschool Blogs I ♥

I Review For

Disclosure

To be in compliance with the recent FTC ruling that bloggers need to disclose if they are being paid or compensated for their posts, the following is my disclosure policy:

Our Homeschool Reviews is a blog written by me, Christine. Its sole purpose is to share homeschooling products and ideas with you.

Our Homeschool Reviews does accept and keep free products from companies and organizations. That being said, I will not be influenced by any form of compensation. I will always write my honest opinions and experiences.

Our Homeschool Reviews has several links to various stores. Some of these links are affiliate links. That means that if you click on them and purchase something using that link I get a *small* percentage of the sale. You do not have to click on them, but you are more than welcome to {and thank you if you do}.

Snapfish: 70% Off Collage Canvas PrintsSnapfish is offering 70% off their collage photo canvas prints with the coupon code CANVAS70. This makes the 8×10 go from $39.99 down to $11.99. Expires 7/8.

Children's Place: FREE Shipping plus 15% Off

The Children’s Place is offering FREE shipping on all purchases through 7/4. You can also use coupon code H9D2011 (expires TODAY, 6/30) to get an additional 15% off. They currently have a 4th of July Extravaganza sale with items discounted up to 75%!

Justice SALE!Go to Justice and use coupon code 757 for 40% off your purchase. Take a look at their clearance items to get up to 65% off with your discount code. Expires 7/13.

I posted about this Summer of Fun FREEBIE at the beginning of June and now the July calendar is ready. This Summer of Fun Calendar by Amanda Bennett is full of daily activity ideas and fun Internet resources for kids, along with coupons and weekly blog giveaways for mom!

Yesterday we went with some friends to a painting class. The class was a little over an hour long and in this particular one the kids were all painting a dolphin. Classes are scheduled each week and the theme changes for each class. My daughter absolutely LOVED it and wants to go back again soon. She has her mind set on painting a pair of ballet shoes next.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Bryan Cohen, author of 500 Writing Prompts for Kids First Grade through Fifth Grade, picked the winner and has already notified her! Over 200 people entered from 17 blogs and one winner from each was chosen, so congrats to all the winners!

Friday, June 24, 2011

We have officially finished our first week of third grade so here's a rundown of what we did in school this week:

History: We continued to read about Christopher Columbus in A First Book in American History.

We also read a couple pages in Journeys in Time about Columbus. If you haven't seen this book yet, you need to check it out! It includes beautifully colored pictures and maps and a two page spread for each time period.

Science: We are now about half way through One Small Square: Seashore.

We also completed two science experiments this week. The first was to determine why some things float and some things sink. We've done this one a few times in the past and it's always fun to find things around the house and guess what they will do.

The second experiment was to see what causes waves. We learned that although the moon causes the tides, waves are created by the wind.

Below is a notebooking page (not yet colored) showing animals who live on the shore and animals who live between the tides. Hopefully we will get to go to the beach soon and see what we can find.

English: I am really liking Beginning Wisely English 3 by Rod & Staff. The lessons are very simple and effective and even within the first week we are learning new things. Yesterday she learned how to diagram a simple two word sentence and today she was already diagramming larger sentences.

I also like that many of the sentences are Biblical. Not only do they get to work with sentences like "Mother hummed a tune", they also get "David won a great victory for Israel."

Spelling: We finished day 7 of Sequential Spelling 1. It is a different approach than we are use to and I'm willing to see how it goes for a couple months.

Bible: Last week we learned Proverbs 2: 3-5 along with the meaning of the word Persistence and this week we are learning Proverbs 11:2 along with the meaning of the word Humility. I'll post more on these later.

For Fun: We made homemade ice cream in a bag today and it turned out pretty good. All you need is milk, sugar, vanilla, ice, and some rock salt. Ten minutes later you have ice cream!

Besides school, we had swim practice Monday through Thursday and had my daughter's friend over four out of five days. Thankfully they play well together and had no problems. :)

Tomorrow is our first swim meet for the season so wish us luck. I think we have to be there at 7:30am and with the pool being about 45 min away, it will be an early morning (and a long day).

We love science! But what we love even more than science are the fun science experiments! Hands on learning is really the best way to learn in my opinion. It's one thing to read about how something works but it's another to actually see it work.

If you are looking for some science experiment ideas, I found a really neat website that I want to tell you about. It's called Touch of Home Learning. Touch of Home Learning offers in and out of school science events in the Ohio/Kentucky area but they also offer a wealth of information on their website and sell an e-book called 60 Quick and Easy Science Experiment with Everyday Items.

They offer FREE science ideas and activities on their website and you can search for them by theme (fall, spring, Thanksgiving), by skill (cutting and gluing, measuring, patterns) or by type (paper mache, recipe, felt).

The e-book, 60 Quick and Easy Science Experiment with Everyday Items, covers topics like space, dinosaurs, bubbles, simple machines, and more. All are very simple to complete and most use items that you probably already have in your home.

Find Out More: You can find out more about 60 Quick and Easy Science Experiment with Everyday Items on the website Touch of Home Learning. It sells for 24.95.

Disclosure: This product was given to Our Homeschool Reviews for free for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I have received no compensation from it and all opinions and experiences within this review are my own.

This week I have been reading Pocahontas and the Strangers aloud. At first I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this book, but I have to say, it is really good and keeps you wanting to read more to find out what will happen.

To stay on schedule with Heart of Dakota, I am only reading one chapter a day. Since they are short, it is hard to stop at just one.

My daughter has read many of the Disney Fairies series on her own. I'm not sure how many are in the series, but I can bet we own most of them. Just for fun though, she has asked me to start reading them to her before bed.

The series is cute and of course each fairy has his or her own personality. The first one I read was Lily's Pesky Plant. Lily, a garden talent fairy, finds a mysterious seed and plants it in her garden. The end was even a surprise to me.

The book she asked me to read next is called Vidia and the Fairy Crown. Vidia is a fast flying talent fairy and selfish and mean to the others.

I like her the least of all the fairies...possibly why I was asked to read about her next. ;) I've only read a little into the first chapter so I'm not sure how I will like it.

Last week I told you a little about the fitness classes I have been taking at the YMCA. I started out with a Bosu Circuit class and then took a short Cardio Blast class.

The next day I took another class called Body Pump. Body Pump is basically an hour long class that works out every muscle in your body. You grab a bar, various size weights, and a step. By the end of the class you end up working out your biceps, triceps, shoulders, chest, and back, along with your calves, thighs, hamstrings, and stomach.

About half way through class your legs and arms feel like mush and and you are trembling all over. Sounds fun, huh? ;)

I personally like the Bosu Circuit better because it adds cardio with weights. {And by the end of class I've probably lost 5lbs just in sweat.}

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Panda Express FREE EntreeIf you are out late and hungry, go to Panda Express Friday, 6/24 after 9 p.m. for a FREE bowl of orange chicken.

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Save 80% at Restaurant.com using code SUMMER at checkout. This makes a $25 gift card only $2. Ends 6/30.

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FREE Sample Roundup
For anything I missed, you can get your FREE sample roundup from Deal Seeking Mom!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

It was May of last year that I received an email telling me I was accepted on to the TOS Homeschool Crew. I was pretty excited and surprised because I really didn't think that after applying I would make it...after all, I only have one child. {I've found out since that there really are other homeschool families out there with only one child} ;)

It was a great year and I got to know all kinds of wonderful people! I seriously cringed at the thought of *talking* to strangers online at first. But I am glad I did because I have met some lovely ladies {you know who you are}!!

So now, it is the start of another year, and this week was the official launch of the 2011-2012 TOS Homeschool Crew! I get to meet some more great women and tell you about some more great homeschool products!

We are currently reading about Christopher Columbus in A First Book in American History by Edward Eggleston.

So far we are enjoying it because it just doesn't jump into the same story we all know about Columbus.

It starts off by telling us a little about his childhood and his life growing up. It really makes learning about him so much more interesting!

For Science we are reading One Small Square: Seashore. We love the One Small Square books! She has already had a notebooking assignment which you can see to the right. If you click it it should get bigger.

She learned what causes the tides and waves and copied these pictures from the book.

In the past for Grammar I have used First Language Lessons. This year at a used curriculum sale I found a copy of Rod & Staff's Beginning Wisely: English 3.

We have never used these books but I have heard good things about them and the they were selling at a price I couldn't pass up!

Her first assignment was to copy some rules about her book. She learned cursive last year so I will be requiring her to write in cursive for most of her work.

That is all I have time to share with you for now. I'll be posting more on Friday about the rest of our week.

we spent approximately 8 1/2 hours at our daughter's two dance recitals on saturday. the girls were great and it was a lot of fun! i think the parents were more tired than the kids. {it takes a lot of effort to sit that long you know...lol!}

~two~

just as my muscles are getting back to normal after a couple workout classes last week, i take another this morning. i don't feel as bad as last week, so i am hoping i don't get as sore.

~three~

we started school last week and things went well. today we will be continuing with a friend of hers who is over for the day. she is excited to be doing school with her friend.

~four~

we ran out of nutella this past week and i had to buy some more yesterday. have you tried it? it is soooo good!!

~five~

friday is our 11 year anniversary!! just about every saturday is full with swim meets for the next month so we will try and plan something fun when things settle down. i am seriously ready to get away for a day or two!!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Yesterday, early in the morning, I made the decision to start 3rd grade! I was actually going to start it today, but yesterday we woke up to rain and decided not to go to swim practice. So I quickly threw everything together and off we went.

Overall we had a good day with lots of new and fun material! I'll be posting more about our day shortly.